Easter Egg Hunt and Baby Animal Days

On Saturday, April 23rd my sister Michelle's family and Ava and I went to my parent's neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  It was held at my old elementary school and was such a blast!  I bet there were about a thousand eggs scattered all over the playground and they just let all the kids have at it! 

 Ava enjoyed the action from her stroller

 Isn't this just the cutest Easter family you've ever seen?

 I think Jetta was pretty excited about her Easter bounty, don't you?

Oh look, I was there too!

Later that day we headed up to Logan and met up with Drew's mom and sister and her two boys at Baby Animal Days at the American Heritage Center up there.  They had a whole bunch of baby animals that the kids could pet and hold.  Such fun!

 Jetta, Michelle, baby Laurel and a little duck

 Cathrine's new little guy Landyn was such a good baby.  He just snuggled up to grandma and slept pretty much the whole time.

 This sweet calf let the kids come right up to him and pet him.  They loved it!

 Ava was fascinated by it and just kept trying to get closer and closer.  Finally Cathrine just put her right on top of the calf and Ava was in heaven!

 Jetta LOVES horses so the pony ride was right up her ally.

 They had the cutest, tiniest baby turtles to hold

 Isaac wasn't so sure about the turtles

 The bunnies were the biggest hit of the day.  I just love Jetta's expression in this picture!

 At first Isaac held a white bunny that he wasn't so sure about, but soon Cathrine realized he wanted a brown one and he loved it!

 Baby Laurel was there too!  All snuggled up to her mommy.  She never even made a peep!

 The train ride was another big hit.

 Ava was also fascinated by the baby ducks.  She was quite talented at grabbing them.  Poor little ducks!

As we were leaving Jetta was being so cute with Ava.  She would pull the sun shade up so the sun would shine in Ava's eyes and Ava would make this cute face and then just laugh so Jetta would do it again and again. 

It was such a fun day to spend with family.  Logan is one of my very favorite places so it's always great to have a chance to visit, especially with such great company!

Our Trip to Utah

On Saturday, April 16th Ava and I started our long journey to the land of Utah.  We left our house at 2:30 AM and Drew drove us to the Indianapolis airport for the first leg of our adventure, a flight to Kansas City.  Once we got to the gate I got Ava dressed and fed her right before we got on the plane.  There was extra room on the flight so I was able to put her in her car seat next to me.  Here she is on the flight looking like the awesome traveler that she is.

And that my friends is where the awesomeness ended.  Ava fell asleep right after I took this picture so I was just resting myself when all of a sudden Ava started to cry.  I looked over at her and she looked really weird and very pale.  Then, out of nowhere she just started puking.  Not spitting-up, that's way too mild of a term for what this was.  She literally was projectile vomiting ALL of the milk she had just drank before the flight.  It just kept coming and coming and all I could do was grab a blanket and burp cloth and try to catch as much as a could.  After she was finally finished she was a happy girl again slept for the rest of the flight.  However, all of that milk she had just puked up must have pooled in the bottom of her car seat because as I picked it up to exit the plane it spilled out all over the airplane seats and all down the aisle!  I was mortified!  The flight attendant told me not to worry about it so I just left it all there.  SO GROSS!  Needless to say, Ava's car seat got a thorough cleaning later that day and I learned to not feed a baby a whole bunch right before they get on a flight!

We spent the day with Drew's family in Kansas and had a great time.  We had a bon fire in the evening and roasted marshmallows with Drew's Uncle Mike and Aunt Kelly.

 Ava with Grandpa Andrew

 Grandma Linda and Ava

 Drew's little brother Caleb with his marhsmallow goatee (he was pretty proud of it!)

 That evening was Drew's brother Adam's prom.  Here he is with his date in front of the car he restored that he took her in.  (Don't ask me what kind of car it is . . . .a Chevelle maybe?)

 Here is Ava with Aunt Kelly.  I had to include this picture because apparently Kelly doesn't hold babies very often so this was a momentous occasion!

The next morning Linda, Ava and I packed up in the minivan and drove to Denver, CO.  We stopped and visited Drew's sister Stephanie in Manhattan, KS on our way.  It was fun to see their little family before their new baby arrived.

 Drew's niece Emma LOVES Ava and played so cute with her while we were there.

That night we stayed with Drew's Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jaime and had a great time.  The next day we drove the rest of the way to Utah.  It was snowing in Wyoming so the roads got a little scary but Linda handled it like a champ and we arrived there safe and sound.  Ava traveled so well.  She really didn't cry much at all.  When she got hungry she would just start to whine a little and so we'd stop and feed her and she'd be good to go for 4 more hours.  I'm so grateful for a baby that makes it so easy for me to travel to visit my family! Thanks Linda for the fun roadtrip!

Fishing in Mahomet

We have a couple of lakes not too far from where we live that Drew has wanted to go fishing at, so on April 9th we went with our friend Matt Maughan and his three sons and nephew.  Drew had heard from a patient of his that the lake was FULL of bass so we were pretty excited, but unfortunately we didn't have any success in catching any of them.  It was a beautiful day and the company was great, so we had a wonderful time!

 Matt and his son Emmett

 Ava and I

 The whole Dokos Fam

 Drew did catch one teeny tiny little blue gill.  If you look really close you can see it in his hand.  At least we didn't get skunked, right?

Matt gave Ava this cammo onsie and Drew thought that going fishing in the great outdoors was the perfect opportunity for her to wear it.  This girl can even make cammo look cute!

Indianapolis with the Gardners

Time to play catch-up on my blog - serious catch-up.  Back on March 25th and 26th we met our friends the Gardners in Indianapolis.  We got a hotel and went swimming Friday night and then hit the big city on Saturday.  We went to a really neat (and a little bit creepy) medical history museum in the morning, ate at a great drive-in called Mug 'n Bun for lunch and then went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the afternoon.  Here are a few pictures from our adventures:

 Ava having fun on the hotel bed

 Just chillin' like she owns the place

Showing off her swimsuit

 All ready to go swimming for the first time

This is a horrible picture but I had to include it to prove that we actually did get in the pool. However, the water was so incredibly cold that we didn't get much more wet than this.  Ava didn't actually seem to mind the cold water, but I certainly did!

 Ava and I in front of the autopsy table at the Medical History Museum (remember what I said about it being slightly creepy?)

 The museum is actually an old pathology building where doctors studied people from the state mental hospital which used to be across the street to determine what makes people go crazy.  It was shut down in the 1960s and it looks pretty much like it did when it closed.  This is Katie and Ava with our tour guide and Joel in one of the rooms.

 Drew really liked the skeletons

March 26th was actually the 4th anniversary of Katie's brain surgery so here she and her daughter Carolyn-Kate are in front of a slice of brain to celebrate "Brain Day."  We sure are glad you have an aneurysm-free brain Katie!

Katie and Joel at Mug 'N Bun.  If you are looking for a fun and completely calorie-filled place to eat in Indy, this is the place.  They have awesome homemade root beer in frosty mugs and really great diner food.  It's also conveniently located around the corner from the Motor Speedway.

 Drew, Joel and Carolyn-Kate went on a fancy-schmancy VIP tour of the racetrack and press box.  Katie and I weren't willing to shell out the dough for something we weren't all that interested in, so we just hung out at the museum.  Here they are kissing the bricks at the finish line like all winners do.

 

 

 And here are the winners standing in winners circle

We all got to sit inside an Indy car at the museum (Katie did it too - I just can't find her picture!)

And to prove that Ava was there too, here she and I are on the bus ride around the track that we took while the boys and CK were on their tour.

We had such a fun time seeing some things in Indy that we had never seen before and especially spending time with our great friends the Gardners.  Lets do it again soon!